


Ameliorate

by WordHunter (Runic_Purple_Panda)



Series: The House of Potter [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-04
Updated: 2016-12-04
Packaged: 2018-09-06 12:50:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8752138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Runic_Purple_Panda/pseuds/WordHunter
Summary: Harry finds out his life with the Perks and the Potters is going to be a lot better than it was at the Dursleys.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Not all of these fics have the actual word of the day in them, but they are certainly inspired by the word. The Word of the Day on Dictionary.com on [Friday, July 16, 1999](http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/1999/07/16/ameliorate) was _AMELIORATE_ – To make better; to improve.

Harry had been surprised many times today since Hagrid had told him he was a wizard and took him to get supplies for magic school.  Nothing had been more surprising than finding out he had more family than the Dursleys.  Especially when the Perks had taken him home and introduced him to the rest of the Potter family.

“Is that?” a man asked.  While Harry and his newly found Aunt Dorea didn’t have very many similar features, it was more than clear that this man and Harry were related.  The man could almost certainly pass for Harry’s father.

“Harry, James and Lily’s son,” Dorea said.  “Harry, this is my older brother, Hardwin.  Behind him is his wife, Selena.”

“H-hello,” Harry said, shyly.

“Hello,” Hardwin said, smiling at him.

“Hello Harry,” Selena said.  She laid a hand on Hardwin’s arm.  “I’ll go floo your parents.”

“Sally!” a little boy said, toddling over to Sally.

“Owen!” Sally said back, picking the boy up and swinging him around.

“Careful Sally,” Jerome said, as Owen giggled happily.

Sally put Owen back down, “Harry, this is our cousin, Owen.  Owen, this is Harry.  Can you tell Harry how old you are?”

“This many!” Owen said, holding up three fingers.  Sally reached over and readjusted his fingers so he was holding up four.  Owen looked at them and held them out again.   “This many!”

“And how many is that,” Hardwin asked.

Owen looked at his hands again, thinking hard, and then smiled widely exclaimed, “Four!”

“That’s right.  Four,” Hardwin said.  “Where’s your sister?”

Owen toddled off again, yelling for “Lucy!”

Selena returned with two more people Harry assumed were the parents of Hardwin and Dorea that Selena had gone to get.  Hardwin had clearly inherited most of his looks from his father, who could have passed for Harry’s grandfather.  Dorea, on the other hand, had inherited her mother’s looks, including the blonde hair.

The man took a deep breath, before kneeling down to Harry’s level, like Jerome had done earlier in the day, “Hello Harry.  My name is Charlus.  My father and your great-grandfather were brothers.  I and your grandfather were great friends.  I don’t think he’d mind if you called me Grandfather Charlus.”

“Hello, Grandfather Charlus,” Harry said.  “Will, will you be sending me back to the Dursleys?”

“The Dursleys?” Charlus asked, looking at Dorea.

“It appears that Dumbledore left him with Lily’s sister and her family.”

“Lily’s sister who refused to come to Lily’s wedding and sent a nasty letter instead of a present to the reception?” the woman behind him asked.

“Yes.”

“Remind me to find a place to bury the manipulative old-“

“Lucia!” Charlus said.  “Not in front of the children.”

“Of course dear,” the woman said.  She smiled at Harry.  “I’m Charlus’ wife, Lucia.  You can call me Grandmother Lucia if you like.”

“Mama!  Mama!  Owen said Sally brought back Harry!  Is it true?” a young girl came running into the room, rushing over to Selena.  She appeared to be closer to Harry and Sally’s age than Owen was.

“Why don’t you look for yourself, Lucy,” Selena said.  Like Dorea, Lucy took more after her mother in looks, while Owen, like Hardwin, took more after his father.

The girl spotted him and after a short pause, proceeded to grin before rushing over to him and giving him a large hug, “Hi Harry!”

Harry let out a hiss of pain, but hugged her back, because he hadn’t recalled being hugged by anyone before today.  Charlus didn’t miss it.

“Lucy, why don’t you and Sally go get Owen ready for bed,” Charlus said.

“Aw, but-“

“Now, Lucy.”

“Yes, Grandfather,” Lucy said, pouting.   With a last glance at Harry, she and Sally left the room.

“Dad?” Hardwin asked.

“Harry, would you mind taking off your shirt for me?” Charlus asked.

“Why?” Harry asked suspiciously, shocking Dorea and Jerome Perks.  Not once during the Diagon Alley trip had Harry refused one of their requests, or asked why they requested he do something.

“Because I think you might be hurt, and if you are, my daughter-in-law here will be able to help,” Charlus said.

“You won’t look at them and then send me back to the Dursleys, will you?”

“No, Harry, you’re a Potter and you belong with us.  Please take off your shirt.”

Dorea gasped when Harry took his shirt off.  There was a patchwork of semi-healed and recent bruises.

“Did one of the Dursleys do this?” Charlus asked, as Selena rushed forward, pulling her wand and waving it around Harry.

“Uncle Vernon,” Harry said.  “Our report cards came, and I did better than Dudley.  I usually manage to keep just under him, but this time he did worse on his final tests than usual.”

“Good news is nothing is broken,” Selena said.  “Bad news is those bruises hurt worse than they look, don’t they Harry?”

Harry nodded.

“And while he doesn’t have any broken bones now, he’s had them in the past and they healed poorly.  I may need to re-break a few of them so they heal properly,” Selena said, before smiling reassuringly at Harry.  “Don’t worry, I can numb the area with a spell before I break and re-set them, okay?”

Harry nodded again.

“Then I leave Harry in your hands, Selena,” Charlus said.  He turned to Lucia.  “Wife, please take care of our family.  I have business to do.”

Lucia nodded, “Make them pay for what they’ve done to our little Lord.”

“I will,” Charlus said.  He strode out of the room.

“For now, I’ll give Harry some bruise paste and a potion for the pain,” Selena said.  “The pain potion will make him sleepy afterwards.”

“Let’s go see his room,” Lucia said.

“I have my own room?” Harry asked.

“Of course,” Lucia said.  “And your own bathroom too.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you ever have trouble keeping up with the OCs (I know, there’s a lot of them), be sure to check out [Part 1](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8382352) of the House of Potter series. It has a family tree and short character summaries.


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